Editing But I'm a Cheerleader (section)

==Production==
===Background===
''But I'm a Cheerleader'' was Babbit's first feature film,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2012-02-07 |title= Interview with Jamie Babbit |url=http://www.afterellen.com/archive/ellen/People/interviews/62004/jamiebabbit.html |access-date=2022-04-02 |website=[[AfterEllen]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207185256/http://www.afterellen.com/archive/ellen/People/interviews/62004/jamiebabbit.html |archive-date=7 February 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> following two [[short subject|short films]], ''Frog Crossing'' (1996) and ''[[Sleeping Beauties (film)|Sleeping Beauties]]'' (1999). Babbit and producer Andrea Sperling secured financing from Michael Burns, vice president of [[Prudential Financial|Prudential Insurance]], after showing him the script at Sundance festival.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Dixon |first=Wheeler Winston |title=Film Voices: Interviews from Post Script |publisher=SUNY Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-7914-6156-4 |editor-last=Duchovnay |editor-first=Gerald |pages=153–165 |chapter=Jamie Babbit}}</ref> Their one-sentence [[Pitch (filmmaking)|pitch]] was "Two high-school girls fall in love at a reparative therapy camp."<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Gideonse |first=Ted |date=2000 |title=The New Girls Of Summer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oWIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PP1 |journal=Out |pages=54–61}}</ref> Burns gave an initial budget of [[US$]]500,000 which was increased to US$1 million when the film went into production.<ref name=":2" />

===Conception===
Babbit, whose mother runs a [[halfway house]] called New Directions for young people with drug and alcohol problems, had wanted to make a comedy about rehabilitation and the [[Twelve-step program|12-step program]].<ref name=":3" /> After reading an article about a man who had returned from a reparative therapy camp hating himself, she decided to combine the two ideas.<ref name=":2" /> With girlfriend Sperling, she came up with the idea for a feature film about a cheerleader who attends reparative therapy.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=So Many Battles to Fight Interview with Jamie Babbit |url=https://nitrateonline.com/2000/fcheerleader.html |access-date=2022-04-02 |website=nitrateonline.com |archive-date=September 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929210807/http://www.nitrateonline.com/2000/fcheerleader.html |url-status=live }}</ref> They wanted the main character to be a cheerleader because it is ...&nbsp;"the pinnacle of the American dream, and the American dream of femininity."<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Grady |first=Pam |date=2005-03-06 |title=Rah Rah Rah: Director Jamie Babbit and Company Root for But I'm a Cheerleader |url=http://www.reel.com/reel.asp?node=features/interviews/cheerleader |access-date=2022-04-02 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050306182317/http://www.reel.com/reel.asp?node=features/interviews/cheerleader |archive-date=6 March 2005 |url-status=dead}}</ref> She wanted the film to represent the lesbian experience from the [[Butch and femme|femme]] perspective, contrasting with several films of the time that represented the butch perspective (''[[Go Fish (film)|Go Fish]]'' and ''[[The Watermelon Woman]]'').<ref name=":2" /> She also wanted to satirize both the [[Christian right|religious right]] and the [[gay community]].<ref name=":4" /> Not feeling qualified to write the script herself, Babbit brought in screenwriter and recent graduate of [[USC School of Cinematic Arts]] [[Brian Wayne Peterson]].<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> Peterson had experience with reparative therapy while working at a prison clinic for [[sex offender]]s.<ref name=":3" /> He has said that he wanted to make a film that would not only entertain people, but also anger them and encourage them to talk about the issues it raised.<ref name=":3" />

===Casting===
Babbit recruited Clea DuVall, who had starred in her short film ''Sleeping Beauties'', to play the role of Graham Eaton. She met much of the cast through DuVall, including Natasha Lyonne and [[Melanie Lynskey]].<ref name=":1" /> Lyonne first saw the script in the back of DuVall's car and contacted her agent about it;<ref name=":3" /> having seen and enjoyed ''Sleeping Beauties'', she was eager to work with her.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Judd |first=Daniel |date=2007-09-27 |title=Jamie Babbit |url=http://www.rainbownetwork.com/Film/detail.asp?iData=9110&iChannel=14&nChannel=Film |access-date=2022-04-02 |website=Rainbow Network |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927223954/http://www.rainbownetwork.com/Film/detail.asp?iData=9110&iChannel=14&nChannel=Film |archive-date=27 September 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Lyonne was not the first choice for the role of Megan. Another actress had wanted to play the part but eventually turned it down due to her religious beliefs and not wanting her family to see her on the poster.<ref name=":1" /> [[Rosario Dawson]] was also considered for Megan, but her executive producer persuaded her that Dawson, who is [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic]], would not be right for the All-American character.<ref name=":4" />

A conscious effort was made to cast [[Person of color|people of color]] in supporting roles to combat what Babbit described as "racism at every level of making movies."<ref name=":4" /> From the beginning, she intended the characters of Mike (played by [[RuPaul]]), Dolph ([[Dante Basco]]) and Andre ([[Douglas Spain]]) to be [[African American]], [[Asian people|Asian]] and Hispanic, respectively. She initially considered [[Arsenio Hall]] for the character of Mike but Hall was uncomfortable playing a gay role.<ref name=":5" /> As Mike, RuPaul made a rare appearance out of [[Drag (clothing)|drag]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-10-17 |title=Ladies' Man: An Interview with Superdiva RuPaul |url=http://www.drdrew.com/DrewLive/article.asp?id=908 |access-date=2022-04-02 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017180115/http://www.drdrew.com/DrewLive/article.asp?id=908 |archive-date=17 October 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Cheerleader-pickets.jpg|thumb|alt=Three young women and three young men stand in a line, with an older woman and man. The women wear vivid pink skirts and tops and the men wear vivid blue shorts and shirts. They hold placards, also in bright blue and pink, including "Silly Faggots; Dicks are for Chicks" and "Procreate". One young woman, without a placard, throws a rock in front of her.|The True Directions campers picket the ex-ex-gays. Intense colors were used to represent the artificiality of heteronormativity.]]

===Set and costume design===
Babbit says that her influences for the look and feel of the film included John Waters, [[David LaChapelle]], ''[[Edward Scissorhands]]'' and [[Barbie]].<ref name=":4" /> She wanted the production and costume design to reflect the themes of the story. The progression from the ordinary world of Megan's home life, where the dominant colors are muted oranges and browns, to the contrived world of True Directions with intense blues and pinks, is intended to represent the artificiality of [[heteronormativity]].<ref name=":4" /> The [[Mysophobia|germaphobic]] character of Mary Brown represents [[AIDS]] paranoia; her clean, ordered world is filled with plastic flowers, fake sky and [[Polyvinyl chloride|PVC]] outfits.<ref name=":4" /> The external shots of the colorful house complete with bright pink [[agricultural fencing]] were filmed in [[Palmdale, California]].<ref name=":3" />